Kinkaku-ji — The Golden Pavilion & Zen Gardens of Northwest Kyoto

Kinkaku-ji (金閣寺 — the Temple of the Golden Pavilion, officially Rokuon-ji — the Rinzai Zen Buddhist temple in the Kita ward of northern Kyoto, the three-storey golden pavilion (shakyo-do) reflected in the Mirror Pond (Kyōko-chi) — the most visited single site in Kyoto (approximately 5 million visitors per year) and the most internationally recognized image of traditional Japan): the pavilion is covered in gold leaf (the top two stories are entirely covered in gold leaf, approximately 20 kg of gold leaf applied in the 1987 restoration) and is reflected in the large pond garden surrounding it.